Trump takes credit for Red Sox sweeping Mariners – NBC Sports

As I mentioned in the recaps this morning, the Mariners are a bad team that started off hot and is now finding its level. As I also mentioned in the recaps this morning, the Red Sox are a good team that started off poorly and is now finding its level. As such, one should not be terribly surprised that Seattle came to Fenway Park this past weekend and got swept by Boston in pretty resounding fashion.
Of course, there are some others who have a different explanation for why the Red Sox swept the series:

Has anyone noticed that all the Boston @RedSox have done is WIN since coming to the White House! Others also have done very well. The White House visit is becoming the opposite of being on the cover of Sports Illustrated! By the way, the Boston players were GREAT guys!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 13, 2019

I suppose that’s one possibility.
Another possibility is that the president is — shockingly — engaging in some fallacious correlation/causation reasoning.
I mean, Hector Velázquez skipped the White House visit because he took specific issue with Trump’s comments about his native Mexico and he tossed five innings of two-run ball and got the win yesterday. Maybe his snubbing of Trump was what gave him his best outing of the season. Rafael Devers went 9-for-14 with a homer, a couple of doubles and seven RBI over the weekend after giving Trump a pass. Xander Bogaerts went 4-for-10 with three RBI on the weekend after skipping out. Alex Cora, of course, managed the Sox to all three of those wins despite his decision to avoid a meeting with Trump.
I’m joking of course. There is no correlation or causation to be found here, whether the player in question went to the White House or not, because visiting a politician — or choosing not to visit a politician — in no way impacts one’s baseball performance. To suggest otherwise is either (a) to be silly; or (b) to be cynically using a non-political actor, like a popular sports team, as a political prop in order to bathe in unearned glory and to make oneself look or feel better.
Which is, actually, a pretty good reason for a sports team that has no desire to be cast in a political light to go see said politician.
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Angels DH Shohei Ohtani scuffled in his first five games of the season, registering just four hits (all singles) in 24 trips to the plate. He got on the board in a big way on Monday night against the Twins, blasting a two-run home run off of José Berríos in the third inning to give the Angels a 3-2 lead.

Ohtani underwent Tommy John surgery after the 2018 season, which means he won’t be pitching until 2020. He needed to miss only the first 34 games of the 2019 season as a batter and will serve as a DH for the rest of the season.
Last year, Ohtani earned AL Rookie of the Year Award honors, batting .285/.361/.564 with 22 home runs, 61 RBI, 59 runs scored, and 10 stolen bases while also compiling as a pitcher a 3.31 ERA with a 63/22 K/BB ratio across 51 2/3 innings.
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